Research In Motion (RIM) announced today that more than US$100 worth of selected premium apps will be offered free of charge to BlackBerry customers, in view of service disruptions last week.
Game
Publisher
SIMS 3
Electronic Arts
Bejeweled
Electronic Arts
N.O.V.A.
Gameloft
Texas Hold’em Poker 2
Gameloft
Bubble Bash 2
Gameloft
Photo Editor Ultimate
Ice Cold Apps
iSpeech Translator Pro
iSpeech.org
DriveSafe.ly Pro
iSpeech.org
Drive Safe.ly Enterprise
iSpeech.org
Nobex Radio Premium
Nobex
Shazam Encore
Shazam
Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant
Vlingo
The apps will be available from October 19 to December 31, 2011.
The complete selection of premium apps will become available for download at BlackBerry App World over a period of four weeks beginning Wednesday, October 19th.
The selections over this period will include the following (with more to come):
Western Digital offers an easy way to set up a personal private cloud to share documents and media – using the WD My Book Live network drive and mobile apps for Android and iOS smart phones and tablets.
The drives comes in 1TB (S$209), 2TB (S$239), and 3TB (S$299) capacities and are priced roughly US$50 more than non-network external drives with the same capacity.
I’d posted not long ago about setting up a home shared network hard drive in order to share documents and media – photos, music and video – in a private personal cloud in the comfort of the home.
My Book Live is a network attached storage drive from Western Digital
The WD My Book Live network drive from Western Digital is also connected directly to the wireless router to plug into the home wireless network. Both Macs and PCs can store, access and share documents, as well as stream media from the drive.
With all the buzz about consumer public clouds and enterprise private and hybrid (private/public) clouds, the WD My Book Live makes it simple to set up your personal private cloud with the hard-disk and data physically sitting in the security of your home.
Access to this personal cloud can be extended beyond the home to the Internet. Any computer given the access rights can access the shared documents and media on the WD My Book Live through www.WD2go.com.
My Book Live comes in capacities of 1TB, 2TB and 3TB
In addition, Android and iOS mobile devices (both smart phones and tablets) can get mobile access to the files stored on the drive via the WD2go apps from Western Digital. The WD Photos and basic WD2go app are free and allows viewing files and streaming media from the WD My Book Live.
For US$2.99, the WD2g Pro app adds the ability to “clip” files – basically download a local copy of files and media to the mobile device; and allow users to share files by emailing either a copy of the files or a link to the WD My Book Live.
Note that once the link is sent out, anybody with the link will have access to that file. There is no expiry date for the sharing, like in Seagate’s GoFlex Home. The only way to stop sharing that file is to either remove that file or rename it – but that affects everybody to whom you’ve sent that link to.
Naturally, both the network drive and the router must be connected and powered up for access. And access from mobile devices is only via the apps over the Internet – instead of direct access over the local home wireless network.
That means that even if you’re at home, the app in your smart phone or tablet will still have to go to the Internet (via wireless or 3G) and come back into the home wireless network to access the files on the WD My Book Live. This is similar to the GoFlex Home.
But Western Digital does not limit the number of users or computers that can share the WD My Book Live. The GoFlex Home limits the number of users/computers that can be set up to connect with it to just 5. GoFlex Home customers need to subscribe to pay to enjoy unlimited connections.
Capacity
WD
My Book Live
Seagate
GoFlex Home
1 TB
S$209
S$179
2 TB
S$239
S$239
3 TB
S$299
S$339
WD My Book Live features a built-in media server that streams music, photos and movies to any DLNA-certified multimedia device such as a WD TV Live network media player, Blu-ray Disc player, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and connected TV.
My Book Live comes in capacities of 1TB, 2TB and 3TB and is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS, as well as DLNA/UPnP enabled devices.
Western Digital launches a slew of media storage, networking and playback products for the connected lifestyle.
Western Digital My Book Live personal cloud storage
The premise of the Connected Life solution from Western Digital is the simple set-up of a private personal cloud where media can be accessed and shared from any computer at home.
This personal cloud can also be extended into the Internet so that mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet computers can also access data and media in the cloud using apps, while computers can use a browser interface.
The centrepiece of the Connected Life solution from Western Digital is the My Book Live network attached storage. With capacities ranging from 1TB to 3TB, these network capable external hard drives are connected directly to the wireless router at home so that any computer – be it a Mac or a PC – can store and access the media in the drive.
Western Digital WD TV Live streaming media player
The WD TV Live media player that is connected to the wireless network can then stream media from My Book Live and play photos, music and videos on a large TV screen. It can also stream media directly from Internet services such as YouTube.
Outside home, data and media on My Book Live can be accessed on mobile devices using WD apps WD 2go (free), WD 2go Pro (US$2.99), and WD Photos (free).
Tim Cook delivered his first major product launch since taking over from Steve Jobs as the CEO. The main anticipation for an iPhone 5 did not come through. Instead an iPhone 4S with changed out innards was offered. By the way, Steve Jobs was absent from the event
"Let's talk iPhone" launches iPhone 4S instead of iPhone 5
The headline for the launch was the iPhone 4S. Identical to the iPhone 4 in terms of external design and appearances, the innards have been completed changed out with much better components. These include a more powerful A5 dual-core CPU promising 2x the previous computing speed and 7x graphics performance, new 8 megapixel camera, full HD video, and iOS 5.
Other highlights inlcude Siri, the voice-activated intelligent assistant and iCloud, a set of cloud services that works and syncs with all the Apple devices a user owns.
New apps and iPod Touch and nano devices were also presented.
Here’s a quick executive summary of the various products launched, their prices (in the US and in Singapore), as well as when they would be available.
Product / Availability
Prices
iPhone 4S
(black & white)
Oct 14:
US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan & UK Oct 28: 22 countries including Singapore Dec 2011:
Rest of the world
US prices (w 2 yrs contract):
16GB: US$199
32GB: US$299
64GB: US$399
Samsung’s first Mango-based smartphone features a vivid Super AMOLED display as well as People Hub – which provides enriched content and social communication experience.
The Omnia W will be available in Singapore by the end of the year for S$498 (incl 7% GST), without line contract.
Samsung Omnia W, based on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.
Based on the latest release of Microsoft’s Windows Phone, code-named Mango, the phone sports a 3.7” Super AMOLED display, a 1.4 GHz processor and 14.4 Mbps HASPA connectivity.
The design thrust of the Omnia W is to put people at the centre of everything, with emphasis placed on social networking and sharing. Internet Explorer 9 and Bing are integrated into the entire experience.
Windows Phone 7.5
Mango’s unique and intuitive user interface lays out applications in mosaic ‘Live Tiles’ which flow and move in response to users’ touch on the screen. Six specialized Microsoft applications provide an engaging content and communication experience.
Windows Phone People Hub is integrated with built-in social networking services like Windows Live, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for users to stay connected with their social community constantly.
Office Hub provides enhanced productivity on-the-go and includes access to Windows Live Sky Drive, which provides 25GB of free storage and allows documents and media files to be easily stored and accessed. Users can also create and edit documents through mobile versions of Microsoft Office Excel, Word and PowerPoint, as well as utilize One Note, a note-taking platform that allows easy sharing and storage of voice memos, images and text-based notes.
Stylish, slim metal finish for the Samsung Omnia W
Seamless access to entertainment is enhanced by the integration of a Picture Hub, Music & Video Hub – powered by Microsoft Zune – and Game Hub, which provides the latest in social gaming experiences through Xbox live, for friends to chat with each other while gaming. Windows Phone Marketplace provides access to over 30,000 apps to meet customer needs across entertainment or productivity.
Samsung differentiation
The overall Windows Phone experience is significantly enhanced with the inclusion of Samsung-exclusive productivity apps. This includes Samsung AllShare, which provides seamless content transfer between the smartphone and other DLNA-enabled devices such as HDTV’s, monitors and digital cameras.
The Samsung Omnia W tries to put people and social networking at the centre of its experience.
Video Call is an easy-to-use app which allows ultra-fast vivid 3G video conversations with friends and family. Additionally, Mini Diary enables users to capture their experiences in multimedia formats and create their own personalized digital journal while on the go. An upgraded Samsung eBook client is also available from Samsung Zone.
Users can stay up-to-date with the latest news and events with Now 2.0 app, which provides up-to-the minute current affairs, stock market and weather information. RSS Time allows RSS feeds for newspapers, magazines and blogs to be downloaded onto the device and read in an easily digestible format, while eye-catching articles can be instantly shared via email or Facebook.
The device features enhanced social network integration, with Twitter and LinkedIn weaved throughout the Omnia W in addition to Facebook, for photos and videos to be instantly shared across a variety of social networking sites hassle-free.
Detailed specifications of the Omnia W are tabulated below:
GoFlex Home is a consumer network attached storage (NAS) hard drive for the home. Easy to set up and use, it allows the access, sharing, streaming, and backup of files and media for computers, network TVs, media players and game consoles connected to the home wireless network.
The Seagate GoFlex Home comprises a drive dock and a hard drive.
Secure access can also be opened to computers and iOS/Android tablets and smartphones over the Internet.
Over the weekend, I helped my friend set up an NAS drive for his desktop, netbook, two laptops, iPhone and Android tablet. He had bought the Seagate GoFlex Home 3 TB storage drive during the recent COMEX 2011 but hadn’t had the time to set it up yet.
I helped by using eye-power because he decided to give it a go himself and actually got the thing working in less than 15 minutes. That was the reason why I recommended the drive in the first place, it works with most consumer home Wi-Fi routers with little set-up or configuration needed.
The GoFlex Home comes with two cables and an software installation CD. The following steps were all that was needed to get the personal storage cloud going:
1. Connect the GoFlex Home drive dock to the Wi-Fi router by using the provided Ethernet cable.
2. Pop the GoFlex hard drive into the GoFlex drive dock and plug the power supply into the drive dock and the wall outlet. Switch on the GoFlex Home by pressing the Power button on the drive dock.
3. Pop the CD (or download from Seagate’s website) into the computer (can be a Mac or Windows PC) to install the software needed to access the hard drive. Simply select a language, key in the product information found on the drive, give the drive a name and register it. The name has to be unique globally since it will be used to identify the drive should you access it from the Internet.
4. Install the software on other computers that require access to the shared drive. Up to 5 people/computers on the home network can access the GoFlex Home. By paying to subscribe to the Seagate Share Pro, you get access for an unlimited number of people/computers to the GoFlex Home.
There are three ways to access the drive. One is to use the installed Seagate Dashboard software (on Windows PCs), which allows all features of the drive to be configured and managed. You can add computers and user accounts, backup, access and share files as well.
Use Seagate Dashboard software to configure and manage GoFelx Home
The other way is to use a browser-based Seagate Share either for a computer in the home network or out in the Internet.
Free iOS/Android app
Both are easy to use with a simple interface, using drag-and-drop or standard dialog boxes we’re familar with.
The third method is via the appropriate free app on a iOS/Android smartphone or tablet, also over the Internet.
The GoFlex Home comes with a USB port which is very useful. You can connect an additional external hard drive to expand the capacity of the original GoFlex hard drive. You can also connect a USB hub for connecting more than one USB device.
In my friend’s case, he connected his printer to the USB port and all his computers on the Wi-Fi network got to share that printer. No more plugging/unplugging the old printer from one computer to another.
The included backup software allows up to three connected computers to be automatically backed up to the GoFlex Home. Upgrade to Premium Backup ($49.95) to back up an unlimited number of computers on the GoFlex Home network. You can upgrade at the Application Store that can be accessed through the Seagate Dashboard software.
For each user account set up on the GoFlex Home, three folders are created – a Public, Personal, and Backup folder. The Public folder holds files that can be stored and accessed by everyone on your home network. The Personal and Backup folders can only be accessed by the the user.
What I like about the sharing is the granular control available for the files shared. You can specify who you want to share files with, choose to share just certain files or entire folders, set passwords, and set expiry dates for the shares. Administration is intuitive and easy to pick up. You can send a URL of a shared file via email.
Stream media to other computers and media players on the home wireless network.
Music, photos and video can also be shared and streamed to media players, game consoles or network TVs that support UPnP-AV, DLNA or Windows Media Connect. A wide range of file types are supported.
The GoFlex Home is available in 1TB (S$179), 2TB (S$239) and 3TB (S$339) capacities.
Over time, as we get new computers and leave the old still-functional computer as a second or third machine, and we still utilise the different machines, the files we create and work on can get distributed amidst the hard disk drives of the various computers.
A shared network hard drive can bring order back to an increasingly chaotic situation.
A network attached external hard drive can share files and media (illustration modified from www.buffalotech.com)
The above scenario was what happened to some of my friends and me. Computers and laptops today can last for a long time (if you look after them well) and most often then not, they’re still perfectly functionable when we get a new machine so it seems quite a waste to get rid of the old machine, especially since it can serve as a back up.
And if a member of the family is on the new laptop, others can use the spare computer. So over time, working files, photos, music and video can get distributed over a few computers. At first, it’s easy to remember and keep track of which file is in which computer and do the occasional transfer using an USB thumbdrive.
But over time, as the number of files grow, things can get out of hand – the convenience of being able to work on a few computers turns into a bane.
Now that cloud computing is catching on and we can save files and media on the Internet, this mess can be ameliorated. But those personal and confidential files and humongous video files are still best kept in local storage.
The NAS solution
Schematic of an NAS solution
So over the weekend, I helped my friend rig a similar solution that I use at home – set up a simple external hard drive that can be shared and accessed by a few different computers at home over a local Wi-Fi network.
Those files that are stored on the network attached storage (NAS) drive can then remain accessible no matter which computer you’re working on. It can be used to back up the computers connected.
Some NAS drives allow you to stream media to TVs, media players and game consoles connected to the home network.
In fact, some even enable access to be opened out to the Internet, so that when you’re outstation – in the office, on the road, or overseas – you can still securely access the files stored in the hard drive. This can be done via a browser on a laptop connected to the Internet, or via an app on a smartphone or tablet.
It’s like setting up your personal cloud storage. There are many consumer NAS drives in the market from makers such as Seagate, Western Digital and Buffalo.
They’re all designed to be easily set up by the layman who does not have a PhD in computer science. These NAS drives are connected directly to the router rather than a specific computer acting as a file server.
Any computer connected to the network via the router can access the NAS drive at any time.
Because these NAS drives are more intelligent than the regular dumb external hard drive, they do cost a slight premium over the latter. The NAS drives can manage network access by computers on the network and implement security, access and rights control as well.
Seagate GoFlex Home comes in capacities of 1TB, 2TB and 3TB
Since I’m familiar with the Seagate GoFlex Home, that was what I recommended my friend, who brought home a 3 TB version from the recent COMEX 2011 for S$299.
Tomorrow we’ll see how he managed to tame his growing diaspora of media and files.
The Formula 1 comes to Singapore this weekend. Check out the F1 apps for the BlackBerry tablet or smartphones – both free on BlackBerry App World.
Formula1.com 2011 app for BlackBerry smartphones.
For BlackBerry smartphone users (device software 4.2.0 or higher), check out the Formula1.com 2011 app from the organisers of Formula 1 itself. Users can access information such as race results, championship standings, timetables, calendars, circuit data etc.
The app streams real-time data directly from Formula One Management’s Technical Centre at the racetrack displaying the same information supplied to the teams from every session, putting you right at the heart of the action. The app also sends you push notifications and keeps you updated even when the app is closed.
Maxis F1 2011 for BlackBerry PlayBook
For BlackBerry PlayBook users, check out the Maxis F1 2011 for BlackBerry PlayBook app from Infindo Technology. Users can get detailed information for all the races with exclusive live commentary, top stories, results, schedule, standings, drivers/teams/circuit info etc.
Both apps are free and valid for the entire 2011 F1 season.
The new BlackBerry Torch 9810 and 9860 will hit the shelves in Singapore next week on 22 September 2011. Pre-orders for both BlackBerry 7 OS based smartphones can be placed with SingTel from today.
Pre-order the BlackBerry Torch 9810 or 9860 online from today.
The two new Torches were first introduced by Research In Motion (RIM) in early-August and unveiled in Singapore in mid-August together with the Bold 9900.
BlackBerry Torch 9860
The BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone offers fast and fluid performance in a stylish new all-touch design.
With a new 3.7” display – the largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone – the new all-touch BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone is optimized for high-quality multimedia, web browsing and gaming; whilst offering the real-time communication and collaboration lauded by BlackBerry fans.
BlackBerry Torch 9810
The BlackBerry Torch 9810 is an evolution of the BlackBerry Torch 9800. The new model is faster and more fluid with high performance hardware features while the new BlackBerry 7 OS delivers an enhanced multimedia experience.
Featuring a large 3.2”, high-resolution touch display and a distinctive BlackBerry keyboard that easily slides out to allow fast typing, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 offers the best of both worlds.
An overseas friend uses the Viber app on her iPhone for free VOIP international voice calls and text messages on her smartphone. I installed the free app on my Android phone and tested it. Setup was swift and quality was superb.
I was at the petrol station and the attendant was filling up an almost empty tank with petrol. While waiting, I whipped out my Android phone, searched the Android Market for Viber and installed it. Before the attendant had finished filling up the tank, I was already chatting with my friend in Kuala Lumpur on her iPhone – for free.
Set up was really simple on the Android phone. Once it was downloaded and installed, it gets your permission to access your contacts and sends you a 4-digit access code to activate your account. After that, you’re set to go!
Viber is free and works on the iPhone and Android phones.
The interface looks similar to the usual numeric dialpad with tabs to access recent calls, contacts, messages and more activities such as inviting friends, sharing on Facebook, tweeting etc.
Basically, Viber emulates the usual phone calling and sms usage – everything is based on your regualr phone number.
Viber dialpad on Android phone
Your account id is your phone number. If the party you’re calling has Viber installed on her Android or iPhone, you just dial her usual number, complete with international dialing code, to get connected. Viber is currently only available on the iPhone and Android phones. A BlackBerry version is in the pipeline.
Quality was good. Voice quality was loud and clear, although there was just a split-second lag, which didn’t affect the flow of the conversation in the slightest bit.
If the other party does not have Viber installed yet, the app gives you the option to place a regular call through your carrier.
Conclusion: Fast and easy to set-up and use, call quality is fantastic. The free app is compatible with iPhone 3GS (and later) and Android phones.
No more plugging/unplugging the old printer from one computer to another.
number of computers on the GoFlex Home network. You can upgrade at the Application Store that can be accessed through the Seagate Dashboard software.
